Twenty Questions
by Dianay
Summary: Okay, so it's really five questions, but I couldn't think of a title. Neo is being especially inquisitive and Morpheus jumps on a soap box a couple of times (figuratively of course). Please read and review.


Morpheus and Neo sit side by side on a bench in the middle of a lush, green park. There are no signs of civilization within sight besides the bench on which they sit. There is a large expanse of grass stretching for hundreds of yards before approaching a line of trees which surround the whole area.   
  
The two men are both dressed in their typical Matrix attire and the soft breeze tugs on their trenchcoats. Morpheus' dark, mirrored shades make it impossible to see what he is looking at if anything. Neo, sans sunglasses, is observing his surroundings with a quiet wonderment.   
  
Neo breaks the serene silence, "When do you think it started from?"  
  
Morpheus turns his head toward Neo slightly, "When do I think what started from?"  
  
"The Matrix. Not physically the beginning of the machines' control, I know you don't know that, but when do you think the dream world started from. What year?"  
  
Morpheus turns away from Neo to his previous position staring straight ahead. He starts to speak and then pauses. He mulls over the query for a moment, "As you know, there have been groups who have proposed different theories as to how close to being real the Matrix was. Some think that it started from a point where the machines would have sufficient information to create a world as extensive as they have. Honestly, no one can really say much about the Real World prior to the machines' insurgence. It is a possibility that they may have changed things to make it easier for them to harvest humans. A complete replica of the Real World prior to AI may have been too much for some people to handle and they have changed it so that the rate of rejection is lower.   
  
"However, the most plausible scenario is that with the abundance of knowledge and history on record, as the Coppertops have done in the Matrix, the machines probably just took this information, filled in the blanks where history got indefinite and then used this as a sort of template to create their dream world. Of course, we will probably never know how it really was."  
  
Neo nods his head and absorbs his Captain's speculation and turns to him. "But what do you think it was like?"  
  
Morpheus smiles. He tilts his head toward the sky and lets out a sonorous chuckle. He faces Neo and, even through the mirrored glasses, his penetrating gaze can be felt. "I don't recall ever agreeing to play twenty questions Neo."  
  
Neo looks at the green earth by his feet and answers in his defense, "Well you can't honestly tell me that you've never wondered about it. It's like the day I went to the Oracle, Mouse asked how the machines could know what Tasty Wheat tasted like. My point is that it seems impossible that we, in the Matrix, could be provided with such stimuli for our minds and our consciousnesses if the machines have no concept of those things."  
  
"I see your point. But you are missing the key factor of how they could create such a world built for us. In essence, these machines are the perfect intermediate between humans and the kind of machines that you are thinking of. You are referring to them as if they are just giant malevolent computers looking for a source of energy, but you are only half right.   
  
"They are computers in the way that they are made of mechanical parts and can only operate in a certain system of parameters, but they are also sentient. When the Agents were trying to extract Zion's mainframe codes from me, Smith expressed his adaptation to the Matrix. He could feel and smell and taste and touch. Ordinary machines, or at least as we think of them, cannot do this. They are programmed to do certain things and can learn under specific circumstances, but these machines go beyond that. This connection with reality, this connection with human existence itself, is what has made the Matrix as successful as it is."  
  
"Are you trying to say that the machines are as real as we are?"  
  
Morpheus hesitates, but only for a second or two, "No. I'm saying that they have the power and intelligence to make the Matrix a formidable reality. The human mind is a difficult thing to conquer and the machines have almost succeeded. I'm not trying to say that the Matrix is a perfect reality, I'm hard pressed to even call it that, but it is convincing and safe to all of those people who trust in it. For the people who can never be freed, the world as they know it may have its problems, but overall they feel safe."  
  
Neo stares at the ground with a faraway look in his eyes. It almost looks like he is gazing through it. "Like on some subconscious level they know that they are being kept alive by something bigger."  
  
"Well there has always been that concept within humanity. Just look at religion. The belief in something bigger that can both protect and destroy is rampant among all belief systems. The only difference in the Matrix is that the people don't know that it's there. Although I think you may have a point about having the subconscious acknowledgment of something outside the realm of their current existence.  
  
"No matter what belief a person has, there is always some sort of restriction imposed by this 'god.' In other words, just like the Matrix, it provides control. Like I said previously, we don't really know what the world was like before the machines' dominance. Religion may just be a creation to confuse and distract the people even more from what is real and unreal. It could just be a tool built on from the beliefs of the real world to get most of the people used to the idea of being controlled by something bigger that connects everything in their world together.  
  
"I think that it is the absence of this total trust in the usual beliefs that has caused people to act out against the system. Without the brainwashing of before, the minds are freer and more inquisitive. Zion is almost overflowing and there are still more minds to free. These people, this new generation of the Resistance, have become so skeptical and cynical about all of the previously accepted values and limitations of society that they have begun to look elsewhere for answers to questions that religion provided to people like them. This is why most of the people that we free are young, they are more open-minded to new ideas and opportunities to learn the truth. That's why you had more trouble adjusting when I first showed you the Construct and what had become of the Real World. Although you were consciously open to learning what the Matrix is, you were still so used to your life as it was that you couldn't handle it." Morpheus leans back against the bench and faces straight ahead again. "If you had been younger, you would have had less to hold you back."  
  
Neo had been absorbing this information while still staring at the ground and nods his head slowly as he recalls his experience in the Construct. He thinks out loud, "That's why children start going to school when they are about five. They are old enough to know what's going on and to understand what they are being told, but not old enough to question it."  
  
Morpheus gives an affirming nod. They sit in silence for a minute and Morpheus' cell phone rings. He answers and stands. He listens intently to the person on the other end. Neo is still staring fixedly at the grass near his feet, but either sees Morpheus peripherally or feels him gesture to get a move on.   
  
Both men disappear into the mass of trees. There is left a bench in a lush, green park. There are no signs of civilization within sight besides the lonely bench. Two small birds perch on the back of the bench and start to sing. 


End file.
